Art

Falls and Sayers Halls will open in fall 2014 featuring an original sculpture created by Texas artist James Surls.

University officials met with Art + Artisans, an art consulting firm, to decide on a sculpture for the courtyard located outside of Falls Hall. The piece, entitled “The Contemplative Courtyard,” will be centered on the space located outside of the north tower, said Rosanne Proite, director of Housing and Residential Life.

A seating area will be placed around the piece where students can read a book or hang out with friends, Proite said.

“It will be a shaded area because of the way the buildings will be placed,” Proite said. “It will be a cooler area to be without the sun directly on you.”

Award-winning documentary photographer Mary Ellen Mark has traveled the world to show the human condition through her camera lens. This has resulted in a series of color photographs of prostitutes called the “Cage Girls of Bombay,” published in the London Sunday Times in 1981. Mark lived among these women for three months in the brothel district of Bombay, now Mumbai, capturing both their professional and personal side. She has also photographed the likes of actors Johnny Depp and Robert Downey Jr.

Students need to support their peers who are involved in the performing arts disciplines.

The performing arts are a difficult craft. Performers must spend hours upon hours in rehearsals perfecting every little detail and work very hard to make sure the finished product is entertaining. Texas State students who dedicate their time to the stage deserve support from other Bobcats. Just like athletes, performers need an audience to do their best work.

The new Performing Arts Center will feature a piece of art from Spanish artist Miguel Zapata that depicts conditions of the Treaty of Velasco and “captures the people and events that shaped the history of our state,” according to Timothy Mottet, dean of the College of Fine Arts and Communications.

The piece was commissioned as part of the percent-for-art policy, which requires construction projects costing more than $250,000 to put aside a percentage that does not exceed one percent for artwork projects, according to the Texas Commission on the Arts website.

A Common Experience art exhibit sponsored by the Honors College opened Aug. 26,, unveiling work that helped artists through emotional difficulties.

The exhibit, called “Minds Into Matter: How Creating Art Affects Artists,” is located in Lampasas Hall. The works include paintings, drawings, photos and videos that intend to show art as another way of finding happiness, relief or something new in life, according to the exhibit’s webpage.

This year’s Common Experience theme, “Minds Matter: Exploring Mental Health and Illness,” explores how society views and perceives these issues, according to the webpage. A statement explaining what inspired the artist accompanies each piece of artwork and connects it to the Common Experience theme.

The Honors College hosted a workshop that taught the art of Indian body painting Friday afternoon as part of the Common Experience series.

The president and secretary of the Indian Student Association came to present the body art form, henna, to students. The purpose of the common experience event was to educate and immerse students in different cultures.

“The goal is to have intercultural awareness, and as much as we would like Texas State students, staff and faculty to learn about our culture, we want to learn about their culture,” said Kanika Verma, Indian Student Association president and geography Ph.D. student. “To prepare students to become a global citizen, you need them to learn other cultures, and you need to have an open mind.”

The artistic works of Texas State students were celebrated Monday in University Gallery 2 at the 2013 All-Student Juried Exhibition, an annual competition exhibit for art and design students.

The opening ceremony kicked off in the Joann Cole Mitte Building at 5 p.m. with the opening of the exhibit and went on until 7 p.m. Students, including the featured artists, their parents and friends were able to wander about the gallery and observe a selection of the collection of student pieces.

The gallery featured a series of diverse works, including oil and watercolor paintings, photography, sculptures and printed imagery.

Ciara Blossom’s hula hoop and ribbon gymnastics performances yesterday at the Student Association for Campus Activities’ first Mall-a-Palooza event outside the LBJ Student Center concluded with a buzz—and a bee in her coconut water.

Blossom discussed her experiences as a former raw food chef, clothing designer, make-up artist, hula hoop creator and Austin-based circus performer after almost swallowing the bee and spitting it on the floor.

The redhead, with rhinestones in the shape of flowers stuck on her cheeks, began hula hooping in July 2009 through a friend who conducted workshops at Austin’s first living foods café, which shehelped to start.

Demonic possession, dismemberment and over-the-top gore were the subjects of one of South By Southwest’s scariest film debuts, Evil Dead.

Evil Dead is about Mia, Eric, Olivia, David and Natalie—five friends who go to a cabin in the woods to help Mia kick her drug habit. They find a mysterious book in the cabin. It’s wrapped in barbed wire and someone has scribbled warnings all over the book not to read it out loud. Despite this, Eric clips off the barbed wire and does just that. He unwittingly unleashes a demon, who possesses Mia.

The movie that premiered March 9 is actually a reboot of the 1981 cult classic of the same name. Bruce Campbell, Sam Raimi and Rob Tapert, who were involved in the original, produced the reboot.

There are many things that could be said about Robert Kelly’s Nasty Show comedy showcase.

There’s twice the number of things that cannot be said about the showcase.

While vulgarity is a normal part of comedy, the Nasty Show was particularly dirty. An early joke that received big laughs included unmentionable hand gestures and a pun about absent fathers.

One of host Kelly’s funniest jokes included details about sex with his wife. Kelly, who plays Louis C.K.’s brother on FX’s “Louie,” continued to poke fun at a man in the front row who, according to Kelly, looked like a serial killer. The older couple sitting next to him looked slightly offended by some of the things Kelly said, and the comedian called out young girls who looked unsure whether or not to laugh.